Hogwarts: I am Snape

Chapter 15 Crown
Snape took a broken lamp from his bag and casually tossed it into a conspicuous spot.

That way, even if someone is curious about why he came here, he can give a suitable excuse.

Then, he walked among the beams of light cast by the high windows, searching for a specimen of a giant monster.

The crown should be not far from the specimen.

Looking up, all I could see were piles of various kinds of junk.

Snape couldn't help but wonder if Tom Riddle's mind had already been ruined by his split soul.

Otherwise, why would he think that only he could enter this place?
Finally, he found the troll specimen.

After passing the specimens and continuing down the aisle, he passed another old vanishing cabinet.

"and many more."

Snape stopped and turned to look at the cabinet again.

After a moment's thought, he drew his wand and aimed carefully.

"Split into pieces!"

A loud bang, like a bullet slicing through the air, tore the wooden cabinet apart in an instant, sending wood chips and fragments flying everywhere.

Snape bent down and put the few scraps of wood into his backpack, then clapped his hands in satisfaction.

"So the vanishing cabinet won't be of any use now, right?"

Not far from the remains of the vanished cabinet, a large cabinet with a bubbly surface came into his view.

It's around here.

Snape used his wand to cut off a section of his robe sleeve and, through the sleeve, grabbed a rusty longsword from the top of a pile of junk.

He used his longsword to rummage through piles of miscellaneous items, picking out everything that could be worn on his head.

Finally, among a pile of tattered headdresses, Snape spotted a rusty crown.

The bottom edge of the crown is engraved with small words: "Exceptional intelligence is the greatest wealth of mankind."

The instant he saw that passage, a powerful impulse surged within Snape—

He wanted to wear Ravenclaw's crown on his head.

He clearly sensed that this would bestow upon him unparalleled wisdom and boundless glory.

Snape's legs began to tremble, as if drawn by an invisible force, and he involuntarily knelt before the crown.

He slowly reached out his hand.

The moment my fingertips touched the crown, a jolt of electric pleasure coursed through my entire body.

His mind raced; Snape's thoughts had never been so clear. On one hand, there was a mad thirst for wisdom and power; on the other, a calm rationality was desperately resisting.

Just as the crown was about to touch the top of his head, Snape suddenly closed his eyes and threw it aside with all his might.

"Damn it, how could this happen!" He gasped for breath, unable to hold back his curses. "Harry and the others didn't encounter any danger when they got this thing..."

"It can't be that they only came into contact with the crown after Fiery Blaze destroyed it, can it?"

Snape tried hard to recall the original plot.

"That must be it. Something's not quite right ever since I saw that proverb clearly... In that case, I need to avoid that."

He removed the sleeve that had been covering his longsword and waved his wand: "Yugadim Leviosa!"

The sleeves rose from the ground, then slowly fluttered down, covering the old and faded crown.

Just as he was about to pick up the crown through the fabric, he realized that this also carried a great risk.

“Hmm… Harry didn’t seem to have touched it before the tiara was burned by Fiendfire, and it wasn’t just a matter of seeing the words.”

He then used his wand to move aside his sleeve, aimed, and tried to cast several spells on the crown, but it did nothing.

After putting the crown back on, Snape couldn't help but worry, unsure of what to do. After standing there thinking for a while, he realized that for now, the only thing he could do was hide it.

Under Snape's command, all sorts of odds and ends spun and rose into the air, then piled one by one on the crown.

Before long, the third pile of debris from the left of the vanished cabinet wreckage became indistinguishable from the other piles around it.

Snape pressed his ear to the door, listened for a while, then slung his backpack over his shoulder, quietly slipped out the door, and turned to watch as the door transformed back into a stone wall behind him.

"Oh no!"

He barely had time to glance at his worn-out watch before rushing toward the stairs.

"No, I'm going to be late for the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class..."

Outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Snape abruptly stopped.

He knocked lightly on the door, interrupting Professor Glapland's speech.

"Come in."

He carefully opened the door and went inside.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Professor. I—"

A chorus of boos came from one corner of the classroom, with James Potter's smile being particularly bright.

Professor Glapland gave that direction a stern look.

“Name, College,” she said curtly to Snape, turning her head.

"Severus Snape, Slytherin House."

“This class started five minutes ago, Snape. I don’t want you to be late again. Now, find an empty seat.”

Snape took his backpack off his back, held it in his hand, and walked over to Abbott, trying to be as quiet as possible.

"What happened to you?" Abbott asked, looking at Snape's torn sleeve.

“Shh—” Snape pointed at Professor Grapple, who was using magic to unfold some drawings. “We’ll talk about it later.”

"As I just said, you are about to leave the school, and the outside world is far more dangerous than Hogwarts."

Professor Glapland pointed his wand at the pictures, which depicted tortured people, gruesome wounds, and twisted, deformed limbs.

"Among dark magic, the three Unforgivable Curses are the most evil."

She pointed heavily at several pictures with her wand.

"Using any one of these spells on a human being would be enough to get you imprisoned for life in Azkaban."

"This witch, who is convulsing violently and screaming in agony, has been afflicted by the Crucifixion Curse. This will cause extreme suffering."

"The wizard who was leaning calmly against the wall was cursed with a killing spell. Although there was no sign of injury on his body, he was completely dead."

“As for the Imperius Curse,” Professor Glapland stepped down from the podium and walked around the classroom, “those afflicted with it show almost no outward signs of abnormality.”

"But you will act according to the spellcaster's will, who can make you point a wand at your own head, or kill your own family..."

She walked around to the other side of the classroom and then toward the podium.

"You must be fully aware of what the future may hold. I hope you will give this course your full attention, and not just focus on passing the exam."

The classroom was completely silent; it seemed as if everyone was holding their breath.

"Alright, everyone, there's no need to be too nervous."

Professor Glapland stood on the podium, facing the students.

"In the following lessons, I will do my best to help you improve your ability to resist dark magic."

(End of this chapter)